A review on exfoliated graphite: Synthesis and applications

Environmental pollution and energy storage are two crucial issues in modern society. In this regard, carbon nanomaterials have attained immense importance due to their high surface area and electrical conductivity, along with thermal and electrochemical stability. Exfoliated graphite (EG) is the graphite that has an enormous expansion along the c-axis. EG was developed long ago, but recently numerous application towards environment and energy storage. EG material shows outstanding applications towards wastewater purification in aqueous solutions, absorption of chemical solvents, oils, and energy storage. EG is a worm-like mesoporous carbon nanostructure material. The porosity of the EG plays a key role in environmental & storage applications. The compression of EG particles results in the mechanical interlocking of each EG particle to form a flexible graphite sheet (FGS). Due to the FGS's high electrical and thermal conductivity, it has been used in EMI shielding over a broad frequency region, a novel platform for SERS detection for various dyes, and adsorption of multiple types of heavy metal ions under aqueous solution. Due to its ease of synthesis, extraordinary properties and outstanding application, EG should be the future problem-solving material for various applications. In this review, we have briefly explained the synthesis and application history of the EG material.